Sodium bisulfite (usually shown by formula to be NaHSO.sub.3) has heretofore been used for many commercial purposes, such as a preservative for prevention of the deterioration of liquids, such as food stuffs and pharmaceutical solids, and has been used medically externally for parasitic skin diseases and internally as a gastrointestinal antiseptic. So far as now known, sodium bisulfite has never previously been used by man at low dosage rates on a generally regular basis over an extended period of time.
The sodium bisulfite of commerce consists chiefly of sodium metabisulfite, Na.sub.2 S.sub.2 O.sub.5, and for purposes of this invention such is believed to possess the same properties as (and to be equivalent to) the true sodium bisulfite when dissolved in an aqueous solution.